MapCreate Question - Display of water depths?

M

mikeporterinmd

New member
OK, this has to be easy. I just got MapCreate 7.0 and am trying to display
water depths. Nothing...just blue water. In the Map Category Options,
I have Depth checked and all its suboptions. I also have all options under
water checked. This can't be that hard...but it's late and I'm probably
missing something obvious.

Thanks,

Mike
 
Mike, MapCreate is basically a Topo map software. It does have depth contours for the inland lakes, but not for the salt water areas (at least the versio I have on the harddrive of my Lowrance chart plotter. You can get the one Lowrance Nautipath map, which does show all of the coastal charts (NOAA) on one SD card for about $99. I find that the MapCreate (and I had version 6 on my 3300C) is very handy for inland lakes, rivers, roads, and finding POI and streets from the ocean--but it only has some of the nav aids. It is good enough to navigate if you are carefly. I used it in the PNW one summer when I forgot the chip navionics chip I had for the Lowrance unit. I also always use it for Lake Powell, it is adequate.
 
Thanks, Bob. So, this leaves me still wanting to do route planning using
the nauticpath data (which I own) from home on a computer.

I'll play with the MapCreate software some more, but it may well turn out
not to be useful for me. I guess I can sell it so long as the SD card, reader,
DVD, etc, all go as a package. I'll take a look at some of the inland lakes
I'd like to visit and see what data there is for them before I decide.

So, is there any way to do route planning using a PC and the nauticpath
chip? Ideally, I would be able to copy the nauticpath data to the PC so I
don't have to carry the chip around. It's nice that the chip is small, but it's
also somewhat vulnerable.

It wouldn't be a good idea to do route planning without water depths
on the Chesapeake unless you are planning to follow the shipping channels.
There are too many shallow points that while they wouldn't cause a
C-Dory to run aground per se, I don't feel like discovering exactly where
all the logs that used to be in the channel ended up being buried in
the shallows!

Mike
 
Mike, I have found the Topo to be useful--and use it for finding stores, identifing what highway or road bridge we just came to etc.

Many of the navionics type of programs will not open on the computer. I have tried it with the navionics chips. I do have a magellan Blue seas chart chip which opens on a PC--and appears that i can copy it.
 
Lets say I do route planning using MapCreate. Can I write the routes
to the NauticPath chip or will that cause it to become unusable?
Or, write the routes to a card, swap the card into the LMS 337C-DF, read
the routes out, and then put back in the NauticPath? I don't know if
the LMS 337C-DF has internal memory enough to hold GPS waypoints and
routes.

I think I'll bring the NauticPath home and see what happens.

Or just bring the display unit home and do my planning right on the
unit. One way or another, I am going to get some useful waypoints
set and strung into a route!

Mike
 
I have to say I'm fairly disappointed in this software. Obviously, it is
not nav software without water depths. Perhaps that was my mistake.

However, I tried to make a route with it. The basic route creation
went OK, but any attempt to insert waypoints into the route resulted
in a bad route...waypoints that made no sense, etc. I entered all
waypoints from the maps, so there is no keying error. I find that
the save GPS data option to be hit or miss. Once a GPS data file
was opened, there was no indication which file that was, and if the data
was written out. Given that I would write data, stop the program, restart
and get a different route back from the card, I do not know what
the program was doing.

All in all, save your $100 or buy the old version 6 which some members
like.

Oh, also the database is missing some POIs. Like the largest marina
on the Bohemia River. This marina has been there for at least 15 years,
probably longer.

I consider this software to be so bad I can not even Ebay auction it
in good faith. At least the SD card reader works.

Mike
 
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